South Korea's customs authorities detected 10 additional cases of narcotics in international mail that had already cleared border-stage customs inspection, and arrested all related smuggling suspects. The results came from a second screening line built at major mail sorting centers nationwide since April, where international parcels are screened and inspected one more time.
Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Jong-wook announced the drug enforcement investigation results at the Government Complex Sejong on the 27th.
According to the Korea Customs Service, narcotics seizures through July of this year totaled 954 cases and 1,054 kilograms. Based on 0.03 gram per dose, that is enough for about 35 million people to use at the same time. The agency directly investigated 859 of those cases and referred them to prosecutors. Customs directly investigates about 90% of all drug cases detected at the border stage.
Since April, the Korea Customs Service has set up a second screening line at five major mail sorting centers nationwide. It is a double enforcement network that screens and inspects international parcels again at sorting centers after they pass border-stage inspection. Through July, it turned up 10 additional cases — five at the Anyang mail sorting center, two each at Bucheon and Daejeon, and one at East Seoul.
The customs service investigated nine of those cases on its own and one jointly with prosecutors. Using investigative techniques such as controlled delivery, it arrested all related smuggling suspects. Controlled delivery is a method in which detected narcotics are delivered normally under the surveillance and control of investigators instead of being seized immediately. This allows investigators to track not only the actual recipient but also domestic distributors and the organizations behind them.
In one case, the Seoul Customs Office caught a U.S. national suspect on the spot as he tried to pick up four cannabis cartridges he had hidden in a coffee bag and sent by international mail to a hotel in Korea, entering the country as if he were a tourist. The suspect had planned the crime carefully, designating the hotel where he would stay as the mail delivery address and sending the narcotics in advance, but was caught through controlled delivery and cooperation among relevant agencies. The Seoul Customs Office also arrested a drug offender who ordered narcotics using the dark web and virtual assets, tracking him through his IP address.
The Incheon Airport Customs Office tracked down and arrested a member of an organization that smuggled in about 4,000 yaba tablets by international mail from Thailand. The group divided roles among overseas senders, domestic distributors and collectors, designated an acquaintance's home as a false delivery address, and used a taxi driver to move the drugs to the actual destination. The Incheon Airport Customs Office arrested the first distributor through controlled delivery and a stakeout, then carried out another controlled delivery to the final destination and caught the collector who tried to pick up the drugs on a motorcycle. It also arrested a suspect who smuggled in marijuana and two members of an organization that had secretly brought in precursor materials for MDMA, known as ecstasy, from Vietnam to manufacture drugs in Korea.
The Korea Customs Service has been overhauling its investigative structure since last year to strengthen its drug investigation capabilities. It expanded its special judicial police dedicated to drug investigations from about 100 to 325 officers, and added specialized training in digital forensics and virtual asset tracking and analysis, as well as investigative equipment. In the second half of the year, it plans to create a physical response team to handle high-risk situations such as suspects fleeing or resisting.
"Beyond international mail, we will build multiple lines of defense against drug smuggling across all inbound routes, including general import cargo, express cargo, travelers and crew members on trading vessels," Lee said. "Based on various drug investigation techniques such as controlled delivery, we will track down and arrest drug smugglers and the organizations behind them."
